Vaginitis is a condition that occurs especially during pregnancy in the vagina causing vaginal discharge, inflammation, and irritation, as well as vulvar or vaginal itching. The three most common vaginal infections and diseases are also the most frequent causes of vaginitis. The three common vaginal infections include: bacterial vaginosis, vaginal yeast infection, and trichomoniasis.
The human vagina is colonized with various microbes, yeast and germ, for example, about more than 104 numbers/ml (vaginal fluid) of Lactobacillus spp such as Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus jensenii, which provide weak acidic environment ranging from pH 4.5-5.1 to protect from microbial infection and is a highly versatile organ that can profoundly affect the health of women and their newborn infants. There have been reported that there are many important pathogens in the vaginal niche such as Neiserria gonorrhea, Ureaplasma species, Mycoplasma genitalium, Streptococcus species, Escherichia coli, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Trichomonas vaginalis etc.
Especially, bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most prevalent and detrimental vaginosis, gives rise to malodorous vaginal discharge or local irritation, of the women with BV and is associated with several more serious adverse outcomes including preterm birth, pelvic inflammatory disease, and acquisition of HIV infection. The women with the condition bacterial vaginosis (BV) have loss of many Lactobacillus species (except L. iners) and acquisition of a variety of anaerobic and facultative bacteria. Gram stains of vaginal fluid from women with BV show loss of Gram-positive rods and their replacement with Gram-negative and Gram-variable cocci and rods. Cultures of vaginal fluid from subjects with BV typically yield Gardnerella vaginalis and a mixture of other bacteria that may include Peptosterptococcus, Mobiluncus, Bacterioides, Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Mobiluncus and Mycoplasma species. (Sujatha srinivasan and David N. Fedricks, Review Article, The Human Vaginal Bacterial Biota and Bacterial Vaginosis, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases, Vol., 2008, Article ID 750479, p 1-3).
There have been studied to develop effective therapies to treat vaginitis, for example, orally administrated broad spectrum antibiotics such as metronidazole till now. However the therapy shows lots of disadvantages such as antibiotics intolerance, systemic toxicity in case of long-term administration, and a probable destruction of normal bacterial flora in vagina causing to secondary complication such as a decreased number of lactobacillus spp., an increase of vaginal pH, and a proliferation of anaerobic microbes etc.
Accordingly, there has been needed to develop novel therapeutic composition showing long-term treating activity with safety to treat vaginosis.
However, there has been not reported or disclosed on the therapeutic effect for vaginosis of the combination of salt and sugar in any of the above cited literatures, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
To investigate an inhibitory effect of the combination of salt and sugar on vaginosis, the inventors of the present invention have carried out antibacterial test, especially Gardnerella vaginalis, a main cause of vaginosis, and finally completed present invention by confirming that the combination showed potent antibacterial activity in the test.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed disclosure of the present invention provided hereinafter.